Magnolia Pictures
- Writer-director Andrew Bujalski makes his most mainstream-appealing movie yet with "Support the Girls."
- Regina Hall gives a can't-miss performance.
Every weekend we pick an indie movie currently playing in theaters we think is definitely worth your time and money, and this week's is "Support the Girls."
For his sixth feature film, "Support the Girls," writer-director Andrew Bujalski looks at girl power in the most unlikely of places.
Regina Hall ("Girls Trip," the "Scary Movie" franchise) delivers one of her meatiest roles yet as the movie's lead, Lisa, who is the manager of a highway-side sports bar in Texas called Double Whammies, a poor man's Hooters. Lisa plays mama bear to a group of scantily clad waitresses as they spend their days working for tips and trying not to be sexually harassed.
And that's hardly the only challenge Lisa goes through. Set over a single day, the movie follows our hero as she has to deal with an attempted robbery at the restaurant, a good-intentions-gone-bad car wash to try to help out one of her employees, and her husband moving out on her. However, through it all, Lisa keeps a positive attitude and genuine love for the girls who work under her.
"Support the Girls" is a very different movie than Bujalski's last, the black-and-white shot and geek-boy-centered "Computer Chess" (Bujalski is also known for his second feature, "Mutual Appreciation," a landmark movie in the Mumblecore genre). "Support the Girls" has a mainstream comedy feel, but is more realistic and genuine than most studio attempts.
Hall is the lifeblood of the movie, as she's in basically every scene, but the other standout is Haley Lu Richardson ("The Edge of Seventeen," "Split"), who plays the bubbly waitress Maci. It's another performance from the 23-year-old that shows she's on the verge of breakout stardom.
See where "Support the Girls" is playing near you.
Our indie movie picks from previous weekends: